Mexico Travel Guide and Destinations

At 15 km on the westerly road from Alpuyeca is the right-hand turn to the Xochicalco ruins, 36 km southwest of Cuernavaca, topped by a pyramid on the peak

of a rocky hill, dedicated to the Plumed Serpent whose coils enfold the whole building and enclose fine carvings which represent priests. The site is large and needs two to three hours to see it properly.

Xochicalco was at its height between 650 and 900 AD. It is one of the oldest known fortresses in Middle America and a religious centre as well as an important trading point. The name means ‘place of the flower house’ although now the hilltops are bar¬ren. The sides of the Pyramid of the Plumed Serpent are faced with andesite slabs, fitted invisibly without mortar. After the building was finished, reliefs 3-4in deep were carved into the stone as a frieze. There are interesting underground tunnels; one has a shaft to the sky and the centre of the cave. ■ 1100-1400. There are also ball courts, an avenue 18.5m wide and 46m long, remains of 20 large circular altars and of a palace and dwellings. Xochicalco is well worth the 4 km walk from the bus stop; take a torch for the underground part. There is a new museum about 500m from ruins, a striking edifice incorporating many ecological principles and housing some magnificent items from the ruins, descriptions in Spanish only. There is also a cafeteria. ■ US$2, free with ISIC card. Tickets must be bought at the museum, which is open 1000-1700.

Transport To get to Xochicalco, take a Pullman de Morelos bus from Cuernavaca en route to El Rodeo (every 30 mins), Coatlan or Las Grutas; alight at the turn-off, 4 km from the site, then take a coiectivo taxi, US$0.35-US$1.20 pp, or walk up the hill. From Taxco, take bus to Alpuyeca (US$1.60,1 hr 40 mins) and pick up bus from Cuernavaca to turn-off, or, taxi from junction at Alpuyeca directly to ruins (12 km, US$2.50).

The excavated pyramid, a man-made mountain, has 8 km of tunnels and some recently discovered frescoes inside; 1 km of tunnel is open to the public, giving an idea of the layers that were superimposed to create the pyramid. The museum near the tunnel entrance has a copy of the frescoes (the originals are not open to the public). ■ 1000-1700, US$2 weekdays, free on Sun and holidays, guides charge USS6.50, recommended as there are no signs inside (some guides speak English). From the Zocalo follow Avenida Morelos and cross the railway. The 16th-century chapel of Los Remedios on top of the pyramid gives a fine view. The Franciscan fortress church of San Gabriel (1552) is in the plaza.

Shopping in Puebla

Craft shops sponsored by the authorities:
Tienda Convento Santa Rosa, Calle 3 Norte 1203, T28904. The famous Puebla Talavera tiles may be purchased from factories outside Puebla, or from Taller Uriarte, Av 4 Pte 911 (spectacular building, tours Mon-Fri 1000-1200, 1700, Sat 1000-1300, morning best).

Talavera de la Reyna, Camino a la Carcana 2413, Recta a Cholula, T/F845821. Recommended (also in Hotel Meson del Angel);

Centra de Talavera, Calle 6 Ote 11;

D Aguilar, 40 Pte 106, opposite Convento de Santa Monica, and

Casa Rugerio, 18 Pte 111;

Margarita Guevara, 20 Pte 30. Mercado Venustiano Carranza, on 11 Norte y 5 Norte, good for mole.

Fuerte Loreto, which has views of the city (and of its pollution), is a small museum.

Museo de la No Intervention, depicting the battle of 1862

Museo Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Mexicanos, displaying old engines and wagons at 11 Norte, between 10 y 14 Pte, in the old Puebla railway station known as El Mexicano.

Museo BeUo, Av 3 Pte 302, is the house of the collector and connoisseur Bello who died in 1938. It has good displays of Chinese porcelain and Talavera pottery and is beautifully furnished.

Museo de Santa Monica, 18 Pte 103, is housed in a former convent where generations of nuns hid after the reform laws of 1857 made the convent illegal. This is where the nuns invented chiles en nogada.

Museo Amparo, 2 Sur 708, esquina 9 Ote, has an excellent anthropological exhibition with one of the best pre-Hispanic collections in Mexico and audiovisual explanations in Spanish, English, French and Japanese.

The Museo de Artesanias del Estado in the ex-Convento de Santa Rosa (3 Norte 1203) has a priceless collection of 16th-century Talavera tiles on the walls and ceilings of its kitchen, well worth a visit.

The fragile-looking and extravagantly ornamented Casa del Alfenique (Sugar Candy House), Av 4 Ote 418, a few blocks from the Cathedral is worth seeing, now the Museo Regional del Estado.

The Cinco de Mayo Civic Centre, with a stark statue of Benito Juarez, is, among other things, a regional centre of arts, crafts and folklore. It is near the Museo Regional de Puebla, which has magnificent collections but little information.

Museo de Historia Natural, auditorium, planetarium, fairgrounds and an open-air theatre. In the same area, the forts of Guadalupe and Loreto were the scene of the Battle of Puebla, in which 2,000 Mexican troops defeated Maximilian’s 6,000 European troops on 5 May 1862 (although the French returned victorious 10 days later). Hence the reason why 5 May is a holiday in Mexico.

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The Congreso del Estado in Calle 5 Pte 128, near the post office.

Biblioteca Palafoxiana, or the library of Bishop Palafox, in the Casa de la Cultura, 5 Ote 5, opposite the Cathedral.

Tribunal Superior de Justicia, built in 1762; you may go in the courtyard.

The Plaza y Mercado El Parian is between Avenida 2 y 4 Ote and Avenida 6 y 8 Norte.
Also worth seeing are the church and monastery of El Carmen, with its strange facade and beautiful tile work.

The Teatro Principal (1550), Avenida 8 Ote y Calle 6 Norte, is possibly the oldest in the Americas although it was badly damaged by fire in 1902 and had to be rebuilt.

Academia de las Bellas Artes has a grand staircase and an exhibition of Mexican colonial painting.

The Jesuit church of La Compania on Avenida Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza y 4 Sur, has a plaque in the sacristy showing where China Poblana is said to be buried.

Aquiles Serdan at 6 Ote 206, a leader of the Revolution, preserved as it was during his lifetime. It houses the Museo de la Revolution Mexicana.

Casa de los Munecos, 2 Norte 1, corner of the main square, is famous for its caricatures in tiles of the enemies of the 18th-century builder. Inside, in the Museo Universitario, some rooms contain old physics instruments, old seismographs, cameras, telescopes, another has stuffed animals, but most rooms contain religious paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Palacio Municipal is on the north side of the Zocalo.

To the right of the entrance is the Biblioteca del Palacio (opened 1996) with some tourist information and books on the city. To the left is the Teatro de la Ciudad, opened 1995, where music and drama are performed.

The Casa del Dean, 16 de Septiembre y 7 Pte, was built in 1580.

The tourist office in Pubela is at 5 Ote 3, Avenida Juarez behind the Cathedral, next to the Post Office, T460928, closed Saturday and Sunday. Also at 5 Pte, next to Casa de la Cultura, closed weekends. Administrator of Museums, Tel: 327699.

Puebla is said to have had 365 churches dating from the early colonial period, one for each day of the year, The din from the church bells was so loud that the residents requested that it be toned down a little since they were driven to distraction on Sundays and Feast days. Although Puebla is a big city, most of the major sites are around the centre, within easy walking distance of each other. City buses, colectivos or taxis will take you to any of the more distant sites.

The centre, though still beautifully colonial, is cursed with traffic jams and pollution, except in those shopping streets reserved for pedestrians. Some of these churches are quite beautiful and should not be missed.

Puebla is on the main Highway 150 from Mexico City to the Gulf Coast, the same supercarretera that branches south, beyond Puebla, to Oaxaca. An important commercial centre, Puebla is also the hub of other lesser routes to towns and villages in the surrounding area. The CAPU bus station is to the north of the city. Taxis from the terminal to the city centre leave from outside the departure terminal. From the centre to the terminal, take any form of public transport marked ‘CAPU’. The train station is a long way from the centre, so before going there check at the tourist office to see if passenger services are running.

‘The city of the angels’, Puebla (de los Angeles) is one of Mexico’s oldest and most famous cities and the capital of Puebla state. It was created in 1531 by the Grazien juliens effilochure, the angles in rêveur indicating saw, where the city would have to be built, therefore their name. It is likewise an explanation of, why the ruin of the surplus Indian, which are designed by Puebla per wasn ‘t many other colonial cities like. The bricks of Talavera are an unusual device of the architecture of Puebla, and their use, which was expanded since the colonial buildings, differentiates it from other colonial cities. Puebla is an attractive, obliging/pleasing and friendly and always popular city with travelers.

The city of Puebla – known more formally as “Heróica Puebla de Zaragoza” or less formally as “La Angelópolis” or “Puebla de los Ángeles” – is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of the same name, and the fourth largest city in Mexico. It is a vibrant city where the old and the new meet: high-tech industries and talavera artisans’ handicraft shops; recently built skyscrapers and majestic 400-year old colonial architecture.

Puebla City is located in the valley of the same name, surrounded by volcanoes and snow-capped mountains, just over 110 km south-east of Mexico City. It has an estimated population of 1,800,000 people, and its metropolitan area reaches a population of 2,200,000 in contiguous towns and sections.

Architecture

The historic center of the city still contains much Spanish Colonial architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Some of the historical buildings have been impressively restored; others, however, are in an abject state of disrepair.

Of all the colonial buildings, the most impressive are without any doubt the Cathedral, which is said to be the biggest in Latin America, in a somewhat mixed neoclassical style; the Rosario Chapel, all covered with gold, a dramatic example of Mexican baroque.